Pembrokeshire - Day 2 (Green Bridge of Wales & Marloes Sands)

Green Bridge of Wales

I woke up long before sunrise after a cold night in the van. After my morning coffee, I headed from my overnight spot through the village of Castlemartin and the surrounding MOD firing ranges down to the car park at my destination.

As I arrived, light was starting to appear on the horizon so I readied my boots, camera and tripod. Soon afterwards I was on top of the cliffs heading down to the Green Bridge of Wales, an impressive sea arch.

I spent a good while wandering up and down the cliff looking for the best composition with the clouds and direction of light. Having found my spot, I attached my wide angle lens and fine-tuned the composition. After settling on a composition, I started shooting as the light developed.

I experimented with shorter and longer exposures—fortunately the light was changing very slowly, given the cloud on the horizon. The shorter exposures left dynamic movement in the water, but the sky was bland and featureless. Longer exposures smoothed the water losing the dynamic movement, but this was OK as the sea was calm that morning. The main benefit of the longer exposures was that the sky was more interesting with a little movement in the clouds. Of the two styles, I much preferred the longer exposure—the one below was 8 minutes.

Green Bridge of Wales (Fuji GFX 50S II)

Marloes Sands

Once I had completed my morning’s shoot I headed back to the van for some breakfast, another coffee and some warmth. Having re-energised in the comfort of the van, I looked at the locations I had noted down. In my FotoVue guidebook, Marloes Sands really stood out for its rugged beach covered in rocks and pools. I hit the road. On the way out I spotted a number of British Army tanks on the range at Castlemartin—rather unexpected first thing on a Saturday morning.

On arrival, I had a leisurely lunch, after which I headed down to the beach, only to find that the beach was almost inaccessible. I knew it was high-tide, but I had thought the beach would be a little more accessible. It didn’t matter as it was more of a scouting visit—I would be coming back at sunset. I had also brought my film camera down, a Mamiya RB67, as I wanted to try out a new film stock Ilford Pan F 50, which I had never used before. I began looking for compositions, determined to take the opportunity to learn.

I spent about an hour on the beach experimenting, thoroughly enjoying myself. Experimenting with scenic shots, intimate shots, and a red colour filter. It wasn't without its frustrations though as I realised part-way through the roll that I had not closed the film back properly, ruining a set of images. But I wasn’t going to let that stop the fun, and I swiftly re-closed the film back (properly this time) and wound on a couple of frames. I hoped that the final 3/4 frames would be light tight enough to have got something, which they were. I managed to capture the 2 images below, and while 5 or 6 out of the 10 frames were unusable, I was happy to have come away with something.

Rugged Coastline, Marloes Sands (Mamiya RB67, Ilford Pan F 50)

Fractured, Marloes Sands (Mamiya RB67, Ilford Pan F 50)

Later that evening I wandered back down to the beach, having given the tide a few hours to retreat. The beach was certainly more accessible, but still the tide was quite high and the rocks and pools I had hoped to photograph were not visible. Realistically, I needed to wait until low-tide, but I will remember that for next time. Nevertheless, I could see that I could walk the entire length of the beach, so I set off in search of something to photograph. And thankfully I knew I didn’t need to worry about chasing the light as a blanket of cloud obscured any chance of a vibrant sunset, so I took my time, fully taking in my surroundings.

There was not a soul in sight, and with the sounds of breaking waves over pebbles, it made for a calming and soothing experience. Any photography at that point was a bonus.

I got about halfway down the beach, before I noticed the light fading and realised I would soon have to make my return. On the way back, I spotted that the tide had retreated just enough that a small cluster of rocks became visible—here was my opportunity. I immediately took my camera out. I made quite a few exposures as the waves were not breaking consistently or evenly, so it was hard to get these to look balanced within the frame. Eventually Mother Nature played ball and I got the image below.

Tide in Retreat, Marloes Sands (Fuji GFX 50S II)

I opted for a panoramic crop and a black & white conversion, focussing on texture and contrast within the scene. At the time I wasn’t that satisfied with the image, but over time it has grown on me, and I feel it represents the location well, particularly on that day.

Overall, another great day out with the camera with a good amount of experimentation.

The next instalment covers my last day in Pembrokeshire and a sunrise shoot at Elgug Stacks.